


the heart be still as loving

by sarahcakes613



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Epistolary, M/M, POV Outsider, Speeches, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24026281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahcakes613/pseuds/sarahcakes613
Summary: Olivia Benson gives her best man speech at Rafael and Sonny's wedding.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 48
Collections: Marriage Barisi Bingo, The Leonard Cohen Files





	the heart be still as loving

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired to do this in a more epistolary style by the super cute [From the Office of Deputy Chief William Dodds ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23346394) by FreckledSkittles
> 
> Also, thank you to @blue_spaces on Twitter for letting me talk out the Liv as best man idea.
> 
> Lastly, I feel like all of my stories come with one of these caveats and here's today's: my own wedding was very small and nontraditional, my husband's sister was his best man and literally the only thing she did was give a speech. So if any of this seems out of the norm for a wedding, it's on me!

_And the heart must pause to breathe, and love itself have rest._ \- Go No More A-Roving, Leonard Cohen

*lightly taps champagne flute with butter knife*

Good evening, everyone. For those of you who don’t know, my name is Olivia Benson and I have the great honour today of being Rafael’s best man. Best person, I guess.

*pause as at least one entire table cheers loudly*

Yes, thank you for that.

That rowdy bunch over at table 4 are my incredible team of dedicated detectives, and we are all thrilled to be here celebrating two of our colleagues. That’s right, in case any of you don’t know how they met, it was an office romance!

Another thing some of you might not know is what Rafael said to me about a week after Sonny joined the squad. It was just after Sonny shaved that – you all remember it, right, that moustache he had?

*Sonny palms his entire face with one large hand as people chuckle and nod*

So, there he is all clean shaven, Rafael stops by to go over some case notes, he takes one look at Carisi, he turns to me, and he says “oh no”, with this look of almost betrayal on his face.

Now, as evidenced by my standing up here, I am not just Rafael’s coworker, I’m also one of his closest friends. And I can already see that he’s fighting the urge to yell out “objection” but tough luck Rafa, you asked me to do this so I get to tell the story.

So there’s Rafael, completely unable to take his eyes off my new detective and I ask what the matter is, because, you know, I need to make sure there aren’t going to be any problems.

And he says – Raf, do you remember saying this? He says “oh no” again, he turns to me and adds – and I should clarify, we were alone in my office, no one else heard this until right now – “Liv, your new detective is a goddamn giraffe and I think I want to go for a ride.”

*pause to let a wave of laughter ripple through the room. There are some knowing nods from a number of Rafael’s former classmates and at least two of Sonny’s.*

I had those disclosure forms typed and ready for dates and signatures by the end of the day, and then they sat in my desk for another year and a half before either of them finally made a move. I wish I could say who, but that’s a secret known only to them and in all this time, as far as I know, neither of them have spilled.

*Rafael and Sonny both shake their heads and exchange secretive smiles*

So when Rafael asked me if I would stand for him today, I didn’t even have to think about saying yes. And then I immediately asked Siri what the hell a best man does.

*pauses for more laughter*

It turns out, we do a lot. There’s the usual, planning the stag party and making sure the groom gets to the ceremony on time, and of course historically, they were there to help the groom fight off anyone who wanted to steal his bride. And who could blame anyone who might want to try, Sonny makes a beautiful bride.

*there is more cheering, this time from a table full of extended Carisi relations*

There’s more to it, though. It turns out I wasn’t only responsible for keeping bride-thieves out, I was responsible for keeping nervous grooms in. I should quickly add here that at no point did Rafael try to get out of the wedding – if anything, I think the longer the planning went the more tempted he was to haul Sonny over to the courthouse and get it over with!

*Rafael shrugs and nods, not even trying to deny it, while Sonny rolls his eyes*

In this line of work, late night phone calls and early morning texts are standard procedure. Cases don’t wait for business hours to come in. Being Rafael’s best man was a bit like that. I can’t even tell you how many phone calls I answered that started with “I need you remind me again that he won’t wake up the day after our wedding and realise he’s too good for me.”

Well, you made it this far, and I gotta tell you, if that’s a phone call I have to field in the morning, Sonny, there’s not a judge here who would convict him for mariticide.

Now, if everyone could raise their glasses one more time, Rafael, Sonny, I love you both, I’m honoured to have been a part of this day. To Rafael and Sonny!


End file.
